Kitsch! Cloying sentimentality! Ridiculous, silly images with an attention to detail on the dresses, especially the fabrics, which may indicate Crossdreaming tendencies. There is normally a glimpse of stocking. However much the serious, high-brow part of me disapproves, I love it.
She has dropped her book. How sweet!
Even where there is a man, his fabrics are so girly, his attention so foppish-
We see the woman with her Good Companion from a dog’s eye view:
He lived from 1858-1938, but all these dresses are Empire-line, fashionable in the 1800s and 1810s. Also, sleeves changed after that. He is painting nostalgia even then.
Women drape over each other in such a relaxed fashion
Here, too-
And especially here
This man looks suspicious:
If it is kitsch, it is especially good kitsch, I waffle, seeking a reason for liking it. For someone who specialises in painting people, his range of facial expressions is limited. And- I just like it!
If you liked these paintings, you may also like Giovanni Boldini.
Clare Flourish 
I agree. He has a sort of 17th century charm about him. Perhaps because his paintings were a small peek into the ordinary lives of these people, from a time very different from our own.
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Welcome Gaelan, and thank you for following. The fashions are not 17th century. I am not sure about the furniture, but I think it later. The people are in ordinary interactions: sitting around in rooms, chatting or listening to music, but they are hardly ordinary rooms.
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Ah,18th century, I meant. The rooms are exquisite, and yes, not ordinary at all, but people were surrounded by that sort of thing.
I have a little collection of Avon cologne bottles from the 1970’s, all made to look like things from the 40’s. The pinnacle, for me, is a radio. The box says a eulogy on it, about how good it was when everyone gathered around the radio, and the voices alone would bring to life the Shadow, and all the others.
The point is, what if nostalgia from another time is fascinating?
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If you find anything pretty, or entertaining, or fascinating, go for it. I use art for many purposes. I must go to the Klee exhibition. Looking for other Reggianinis on Google Images, I found they began to pall- but I like them, and that is enough.
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I don’t specialise in painting but I know what I like 😀 and these are magnificent.
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I am delighted that they please you.
I love the level of detail. Sometimes on the net there are two versions of a picture, one just with luxurious wallpaper in the background, one with paintings on that wall.
I am still thinking of a Klee post
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Like these painting, Klee’s also engage the mind to look and discover details although Klee is more engaging as his often abstract-like sets have a knack of hiding the focus from first glances. These paintings in this post bear all at first glance but one is somehow drawn to study the details perhaps because they’re so “pretty” and done exquisitely
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I really enjoyed the women’s smiles. They seem genuine and delighted! Thanks for sharing these, Clare!
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They are very sweet smiles. All of the pictures are very sweet, and innocently giggly. One on display would be a delight. Would you like a whole exhibition of them?
Added: one sold for £218,500.
Just in case you would like another, here is The Interlude:
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Thanks, Clare. I like the little harp. And no, I’m not sure I’d like a whole exhibition of them. I’m visualizing a huge gallery of paintings with those giggly grins and since smiles are contagious, all the art lovers looking the same way. Might make an interesting documentary, though…
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Imagine the pictures, three yards high, the women larger than life-size, and going along a raised walk-way, at eye level of the seated ones. Actually, they are closer to three feet.
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